ThatDarkFellow:7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Why is $15 ridiculous, especially in a major city with a high cost of life like NYC? I do agree that more skilled professions should be paid even more. Don't look at it as McDonalds employees asking to be overpaid, look at it as people finally starting to stand up to our current reality of record corporate profits and historically high wage inequality. All non-executive employees should be demanding more pay.

As to the headline, McDonalds is welcome to charge $4 for a cheesburger, and they'll be pushed out of the market if they do. It's time to take some of those huge profits and put them towards employee wages - the people at the top end take a little bit less of the pie and give the people who actually do the work their fare share.

TuteTibiImperes:ThatDarkFellow: 7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Why is $15 ridiculous, especially in a major city with a high cost of life like NYC? I do agree that more skilled professions should be paid even more. Don't look at it as McDonalds employees asking to be overpaid, look at it as people finally starting to stand up to our current reality of record corporate profits and historically high wage inequality. All non-executive employees should be demanding more pay.

As to the headline, McDonalds is welcome to charge $4 for a cheesburger, and they'll be pushed out of the market if they do. It's time to take some of those huge profits and put them towards employee wages - the people at the top end take a little bit less of the pie and give the people who actually do the work their fare share.

I don't think pay should be scaled to the location of where you live. Otherwise I'd be on a beach condo in Malibu. I'm not saying the guys don't need a pay increase, but they definitely don't deserve more than people who have worked on backgrounds and skills after high school.

I don't think pay should be scaled to the location of where you live. Otherwise I'd be on a beach condo in Malibu. I'm not saying the guys don't need a pay increase, but they definitely don't deserve more than people who have worked on backgrounds and skills after high school.

Yeah, regional adjustments for pay are pretty much par for the course for everything but minimum wage jobs. Sure, you get paid more if you work in SF, NYC, or Malibu, but the higher costs for rent, food, taxes, etc, eat up the majority of that difference. Earning $60K a year in Tampa lets you live pretty large, that same amount in Manhattan means a 1 bedroom or studio apartment and a cupboard full of ramen.

Like I said, I don't think that those with skills and degrees should be paid less than fast food workers, I just think the minimum wage is way too low, especially for jobs in high-cost-of-living areas. So, let's raise the minimum wage, and that will allow skilled professionals to demand more as well.

It's a lot like the non-union folks who biatch about the pay and perks union members get - don't be angry at them for working to earn a solid living, ask why you accept living in a place or working in a company that doesn't allow you to do that for yourself. Everyone deserves a strong benefits program, a robust wage, and ample vacation time, don't hate on those trying to make a better situation for themselves, fight to get the same for yourself.

Like all of the contractors have said, prices of x have increased so the price of y(x) has increased. That's the new cost. I don't see why that shouldn't work for people who have seen an increase in food, gas and electricity prices over 10 years.

ThatDarkFellow:TuteTibiImperes: ThatDarkFellow: 7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Why is $15 ridiculous, especially in a major city with a high cost of life like NYC? I do agree that more skilled professions should be paid even more. Don't look at it as McDonalds employees asking to be overpaid, look at it as people finally starting to stand up to our current reality of record corporate profits and historically high wage inequality. All non-executive employees should be demanding more pay.

As to the headline, McDonalds is welcome to charge $4 for a cheesburger, and they'll be pushed out of the market if they do. It's time to take some of those huge profits and put them towards employee wages - the people at the top end take a little bit less of the pie and give the people who actually do the work their fare share.

I don't think pay should be scaled to the location of where you live. Otherwise I'd be on a beach condo in Malibu. I'm not saying the guys don't need a pay increase, but they definitely don't deserve more than people who have worked on backgrounds and skills after high school.

A lot of people working at McDonalds have degrees or are trying to futher their education. Assuming that everyone there is a 17 year old idiot is unfair.

Want a job paying $15/hour? Apply for jobs paying $15/hour. Getting hired at McDonald's, getting told "We're going to pay you $7.25/hour." and you say "Okay." does not allow you to biatch and moan that you're not making enough money. You knew what the pay was before you accepted the job, suck it up. Don't like it, apply for a new job. Get the skills needed to get a better job or be willing to do some really shiatty jobs. Taking a job that pays minimum wage and then going on strike demanding that your entry level pay is doubled is retarded.

As for the unionizing part, I've worked as part of a union and I've worked in places that weren't unionized. There is not enough money in the world that would get me to unionize and put up with that bullshiat again.

ThatDarkFellow:7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Everyone should make a living wage. I also agree with you.

Occasionally I get e-mails about open positions from recruiters. I have a background in graphic design. I got one recently for a copy editor with experience using InDesign and it paid $12/hour. Another job was a graphic design job, required experience in graphic design and Adobe Creative suite. That one paid $14/hr. (Both of those are in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.) That's what I was paid at my entry-level job... about 12 years ago. What the hell happened to wages? (And living on those wages is do-able in Dallas but it would still be difficult. I can't imagine what it would be like to live on those wages in NYC.)

eaglepuss:A lot of people working at McDonalds have degrees or are trying to futher their education. Assuming that everyone there is a 17 year old idiot is unfair.

It's not an assumption, rather it's the floor they hire from. They don't need to offer any more because a 17 year old is willing to work for that wage to pay for his hobbies. The fact that these people, as adults, are willing to take a 17 year old's wage is technically their problem, in an ideal world. The reality is there are too many workers and not enough jobs, and people are too scared to do things about correcting that situation because it's not politically correct(such as stemming population growth in legal and illegal immigration).

Now, some entry level employers design their business around higher employee wages, like In-n-Out, but they also have among the highest efficiencies in the business when it comes to cost control, the number of customers per hour, etc. They can easily afford to do that. Not every company and location can necessarily that do. I like In-n-Out because they choose to do that, but they're also not publicly owned. When companies don't answer to shareholders, things are a lot different.

Here's a thought. I live in wv and 7.25 isn't even enough to support someone without either government assistance or family support here. In NY it must be below even Ramen wages. So how about a nice even 12.50 compromise? (Phased in 3 steps so it's easier on those poor corporations)

Back in my day (not too long ago in a galaxy very, very close), you could get a Whopper for 99 cents on the regular, no promo. Of course you could also get a job that might start at minimum wage, but you could realistically "work your way up" to making a decent living in a few years. You could also find a drivable (looks like shiat but will get you to work) vehicle for $1000 with a bit of looking. You could also find rents in decent neighborhoods for under a grand a month.

None of these things is true anymore.

But hey, bootstraps! And skills! Trickle down! Shovel ready! Work a little harder and throw some college (with a heaping helping of debt!) in the mix, and you'll be off the fryer in no time at all! This Bud's for you, Mr. unskilled teenage layabout... even though you're in your thirties and have a resume as long as your arm. ♫ I hear they're hiring at Starbucks! ♫

/local fast food workers here all look to be north of 30//haven't seen a teenager working anywhere around here in at least two years///heck of a job, job creators.

tbhouston:As for the unionizing part, I've worked as part of a union and I've worked in places that weren't unionized. There is not enough money in the world that would get me to unionize and put up with that bullshiat again.

Yah..unions didn't work for Detroit .. Fark'em

Well, in response to that guy's whole comment, it depends on the union, as always. I applied for a job moving boxes at UPS where Teamsters was the union. After mandatory dues, initiation, etc, my somewhat reasonable looking wage would have been less than minimum wage for the first few months on the job, while my advancement was to be tied solely to tenure rather than job performance. I decided it wasn't for me and went and made more money moving beer at Anheiser-Busch without a union. Now I'm not entirely sure how Teamsters contract with UPS works(is it local, nationwide, whatever), but I know that I won't be working under that particular labor contract ever as it's designed to benefit Teamsters, UPS, and then the worker in that order. That's the wrong order for me.

TuteTibiImperes:Why is $15 ridiculous, especially in a major city with a high cost of life like NYC?

Because the money to pay the workers has to come from somewhere, and that's going to be the customers. When prices rise higher than people want to pay, people will stop buying fast food and then all those fast-food workers will get $0/hr. Will that make their situation better? Also, raising the minimum wage has traditionally resulted in increased prices of basic goods and services, leading to minimum-wage workers being hardest-hit, as they must use the largest percentage of their pay of any class of worker for those basic goods and services. In other words, when your food budget is 5% of your total budget, a price increase of 20% is not terribly damaging. However, when your food budget is 20% of your total budget, it's a much bigger hit. This leads to minimum-wage workers actually being negatively impacted by rises in the minimum wage. It isn't the CEOs who will be harmed by price increases. They can withstand them easily. It will be the very workers who pushed for increasing the minimum wage in the first place that will be harmed the most by it. That's one of the little ironies of life.

untaken_name:TuteTibiImperes: Why is $15 ridiculous, especially in a major city with a high cost of life like NYC?

Because the money to pay the workers has to come from somewhere, and that's going to be the customers. When prices rise higher than people want to pay, people will stop buying fast food and then all those fast-food workers will get $0/hr. Will that make their situation better? Also, raising the minimum wage has traditionally resulted in increased prices of basic goods and services, leading to minimum-wage workers being hardest-hit, as they must use the largest percentage of their pay of any class of worker for those basic goods and services. In other words, when your food budget is 5% of your total budget, a price increase of 20% is not terribly damaging. However, when your food budget is 20% of your total budget, it's a much bigger hit. This leads to minimum-wage workers actually being negatively impacted by rises in the minimum wage. It isn't the CEOs who will be harmed by price increases. They can withstand them easily. It will be the very workers who pushed for increasing the minimum wage in the first place that will be harmed the most by it. That's one of the little ironies of life.

So, legislate CEO salary caps slaved to the lowest paying position in the company. Ta-da.

I think the minimum wage should be whatever it would take for a person to support themselves plus 1 or 2 dependents in whatever location they live. It's ridiculous to have people working 40 hours per week and still not able to support themselves. I don't give a shiat what their education level is, if they're working full time, they should be able to afford a safe place to live (meaning no roaches or other vermin and it has heat in the winter where it's cold and a/c if it's a hot climate), food to eat, clothes without holes to wear, and other essentials. If we have CEO's with enough money to wipe their asses with $100 bills, we should at least have the people who want and can work supporting themselves without welfare or the need for help. The homes won't be mansions and maybe they'll have to take a bus instead of a car, but I find it shameful for it to be otherwise.

Not everyone can or should go to college, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to live independently.

Needlessly Complicated:ThatDarkFellow: 7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Everyone should make a living wage. I also agree with you.

Occasionally I get e-mails about open positions from recruiters. I have a background in graphic design. I got one recently for a copy editor with experience using InDesign and it paid $12/hour. Another job was a graphic design job, required experience in graphic design and Adobe Creative suite. That one paid $14/hr. (Both of those are in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.) That's what I was paid at my entry-level job... about 12 years ago. What the hell happened to wages? (And living on those wages is do-able in Dallas but it would still be difficult. I can't imagine what it would be like to live on those wages in NYC.)

Exactly. Wages are where they were or less than ten years ago, but think about how much gas and food have gone up.

I see a LOT of adults working retail and fast food and I know of plenty with degrees working those jobs. Why? Because either their unemployment ran out before they found something in their field, or they are fresh out of college in one of the worst job markets since the Great Depression.

Retail and fast food always paid minimum wage, but no one complained because it was just a stepping stone job and not a career. But these days there are a lot of adults that are finding its the only job around where they live even if they have a degree.

bhcompy:After mandatory dues, initiation, etc, my somewhat reasonable looking wage would have been less than minimum wage for the first few months on the job

As a current Teamster, let me just say, bullshiat. Union scale for UPS, here, is around $25 an hour to work on the freight dock. After paying $60-$70 for your union card(one time fee) and your $60 a month in dues, I assure you, you're nowhere near being paid minimum wage.

The cost of living in NYC is insane. Manhattan's is 2.5x that of, for example, San Antonio. Of course, workers can commute in from Brooklyn or Queens, but even in the cheapest (Queens), it's still 2/3 more.

Using minimum wage to compensate for that would require a rate of about $12/hr. Even cities with the highest rates don't go that high. (E.g., San Francisco's is $10.24.) NYC doesn't have the authority to set their own anyway. In NY, only the state can do that, and they're just planning to go up to $9 over the next three years.

To get more, it's got to be a union vs. management negotiation. Kinda hard, though, if the workers can't afford to go without pay during a strike, and lots of people (I suspect) are willing to replace them.

As a past McD's employee (after high school, a very long time ago), I sympathize. Then again, for exactly that reason I GTFO and went into IT -- without having any college yet.

"The workers' actions will lift up all of New York City," he said. "If they have more money in their pockets, they'll spend it right here, helping to boost the entire economy."

Doubling the minimum wage would have a "significant effect on the private sector's ability to create jobs, especially those typically filled by first-time workers and teens," said Scott DeFife of the National Restaurant Association. McDonald's had directed requests for comment to the trade group.

The sad thing is, they're both right. A lot of fast food places are franchised, meaning 'leased' by a private citizen. He handles all of the costs and follows all of the rules and needs to show a profit for himself and the company. Most already work on a thin margin. Increase the wages and many will wind up cutting workers hours or raised the cost of the product.

The latter will chase away customers who show up depending on the cheap food.

I worked for a subcontractor for a multimillion dollar company. They kept screwing with his bottom line until he had enough and refused any more changes. So, they put his contract up for bid and he lost the area.

After several years of hard work and a couple of hundred thousand dollars out of his pocket, he barely broke even in the end.

Remember, business has changed. Thanks to the Yuppies and their get rich quick investment ideology, companies which got by well on a narrow margin, but produced steadily for decades, suddenly had to show big profits or the yuppies dumped their stocks.

That started companies dumping long term employees, closing branches and, since this was during a recession, outsourcing over seas. So, the Yuppies made their millions but helped put hundreds of thousands out of work doing so and helped create basically a hostile working environment. It was the 'I got mine, screw you' 80's.

That started a host of self serving programs and practices which enriched the wealthy, but made you poor. The limit on federal interest rates somehow got made illegal and places fell all over themselves jacking them up. Little pay roll loan companies popped up, charging high interest normally but make one mistake and you wind up paying back 500% on your original 'loan'. Previously, only loan sharks did that and it was illegal.

I'm not real sure exactly what convinced companies to hire on CEOs for millions a year, plus millions in Golden Parachutes and perks like you wouldn't believe. The CEO of our hospital makes a million a year. The hospital pays for his home, his kids private school education, his health insurance and his cars. If he gets fired, he has a guaranteed multi-million severance package, along with any accumulated unused vacation pay and sick time. Plus he owns stock in the corporation.

Yet, the hospital has cut staff so many times that it's hard to get good treatment there. It's constantly in need of money.

So, you raise the minimum wage. Good idea. However, for many small businesses, it's going to hurt their, profit margin. Many have already dropped health care insurance on employees because they can't afford the high premium co-pay. The 39 hour week came in to prevent employees from making overtime, getting benefits or any special perks full time workers got.

Everything went up in cost, except the worker pay. Beef, pork and chicken have soared in cost, for reasons I can't sufficiently explain.

Yet, we're popping out new billionaires at a record rate.

Fuel prices are high and they're going to stay high because your major financial institutions invested heavily in oil, meaning it is NOT in their interest if the barrel rate drops. Then they'll loose money.

Other clever con artists snatch the majority of the corn crop for fuel making, which increased food costs across the board, and no one mentioned that the same fuel could be made from nearly any for of vegetable matter. A plant being built here will be making alcohol fuel from yard waste, crop waste and lot clearing and has contracted with several cities to take all they can provide.

So why was it necessary to steal the corn and raise the cost of food to make something that could have been made basically with garbage?

I wonder who invested in food futures?

These folks need a raise. There are few perks in the fast food business. If you're lucky, your boss will allow you to eat there for free. KFC used to allow employees to take home left over chicken at the end of the day. (Well, probably until the cook started deliberately making more than needed so they could take more home.)

The cooking areas are hot and crowded. Everything has to be kept neat and clean. Often you can't take a break and rest after being on your feet for hours. A lot of customers will give you shiat basically because they can. The hours are long and the rewards are few.

Check out Youtube. You can find videos of people starting shiat with the employees over basically nothing and getting into fights.

Increase the wages much, even though deserved, and the company will increase the cost of the product, which will chase customers away, meaning profits will fall, so employees will be fired and the remaining ones have to work harder, so the food prices will drop and bring the customers back.

PacManDreaming:bhcompy: After mandatory dues, initiation, etc, my somewhat reasonable looking wage would have been less than minimum wage for the first few months on the job

As a current Teamster, let me just say, bullshiat. Union scale for UPS, here, is around $25 an hour to work on the freight dock. After paying $60-$70 for your union card(one time fee) and your $60 a month in dues, I assure you, you're nowhere near being paid minimum wage.

ThatDarkFellow:7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Why do you uncritically assume that low-level white-collar workers are inherently superior to blue-collar workers? Maybe the people without "skills and education" who make $15 an hour are just harder workers than people who went to college, padded their resumes, and decided that the world owes them a living.

If you feel you're underpaid, there's nothing stopping you from growing a pair and demanding a living wage as well, instead of complaining about the uppitiness of the lower classes.

Either someone was lying to you or they were under some sort of sweetheart contract at the time. CA is pretty union friendly and they usually have it a LOT better than where I'm at(in very anti-union Texas). And your union card and dues are based off a percentage of your salary, usually.

Cornelius Dribble:ThatDarkFellow: 7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Why do you uncritically assume that low-level white-collar workers are inherently superior to blue-collar workers? Maybe the people without "skills and education" who make $15 an hour are just harder workers than people who went to college, padded their resumes, and decided that the world owes them a living.

If you feel you're underpaid, there's nothing stopping you from growing a pair and demanding a living wage as well, instead of complaining about the uppitiness of the lower classes.

Either someone was lying to you or they were under some sort of sweetheart contract at the time. CA is pretty union friendly and they usually have it a LOT better than where I'm at(in very anti-union Texas). And your union card and dues are based off a percentage of your salary, usually.

It was all in the paperwork given to me. I'll have to dig it up if I can find it. No scaling on salary and you lose your first paycheck and then some to initiation. Again, like I said, obviously that was a very union friendly contract. Union friendly doesn't necessarily mean employee friendly, particularly at time when unions were forced to scale back on benefits for new members because old member cadillac benefits were costing them a ton to fund in pension and healthcare costs. Anyways, they got lots of money out of it and employees that make it to driver have fine wages, but it takes 20+ years to get there here, and generally a few leg, back, and shoulder surgeries(just like at Anheuser-Busch).

EmmaLou:I think the minimum wage should be whatever it would take for a person to support themselves plus 1 or 2 dependents in whatever location they live. It's ridiculous to have people working 40 hours per week and still not able to support themselves. I don't give a shiat what their education level is, if they're working full time, they should be able to afford a safe place to live (meaning no roaches or other vermin and it has heat in the winter where it's cold and a/c if it's a hot climate), food to eat, clothes without holes to wear, and other essentials. If we have CEO's with enough money to wipe their asses with $100 bills, we should at least have the people who want and can work supporting themselves without welfare or the need for help. The homes won't be mansions and maybe they'll have to take a bus instead of a car, but I find it shameful for it to be otherwise.

Not everyone can or should go to college, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to live independently.

Well said.

I stopped looking for jobs. The only ones available in my area are under ten an hour, part time with no benefits and no chance of advancement. Why bother working my ass off to NOT make a living? I now work maybe ten hours a week for myself and am making more than the last full time job I had.

bhcompy:It was all in the paperwork given to me. I'll have to dig it up if I can find it. No scaling on salary and you lose your first paycheck and then some to initiation. Again, like I said, obviously that was a very union friendly contract. Union friendly doesn't necessarily mean employee friendly, particularly at time when unions were forced to scale back on benefits for new members because old member cadillac benefits were costing them a ton to fund in pension and healthcare costs. Anyways, they got lots of money out of it and employees that make it to driver have fine wages, but it takes 20+ years to get there here, and generally a few leg, back, and shoulder surgeries(just like at Anheuser-Busch).

The union doesn't pay for your healthcare or pension. They negotiate with the company, who pays for your benefits.

ThatDarkFellow:TuteTibiImperes: ThatDarkFellow: 7.25 is too low, yes. 15 is ridiculous, though. There are people who work jobs that require an actual skill or education that can't even find work for 15/hr right now.

Why is $15 ridiculous, especially in a major city with a high cost of life like NYC? I do agree that more skilled professions should be paid even more. Don't look at it as McDonalds employees asking to be overpaid, look at it as people finally starting to stand up to our current reality of record corporate profits and historically high wage inequality. All non-executive employees should be demanding more pay.

As to the headline, McDonalds is welcome to charge $4 for a cheesburger, and they'll be pushed out of the market if they do. It's time to take some of those huge profits and put them towards employee wages - the people at the top end take a little bit less of the pie and give the people who actually do the work their fare share.

I don't think pay should be scaled to the location of where you live. Otherwise I'd be on a beach condo in Malibu. I'm not saying the guys don't need a pay increase, but they definitely don't deserve more than people who have worked on backgrounds and skills after high school.

i appreciate that people who further their education, skill set and experience have set themselves up for better employment and wages. but what about the huge amount of the population who don't have enough common sense to look both ways before they cross the street? without a good Eugenics program in place we are going to continue to have a lot of people who will never be able to grasp more than flipping burgers or pumping gas. yet they too need wages sufficient to put a roof over their head, food on their plates etcetera.